75 weight trained competitive college athletes were evaluated by electrocardiography, echocardiography, and maximal graded treadmill exercise testing. Forty-six (61%) subjects had "abnormally" high left ventricular mass relative to body surface area, and within this group 7/46 (15%) had false positive ST-segment response during maximal exercise. Exercise testing, as a screening procedure to detect underlying heart disease in athletes, may be of limited value because of the high prevalence of false-positive responses in this population.